Joe diffie biography

Home / Athletes & Sports Figures / Joe diffie biography

His contributions to the organization earned him a Humanitarian Award from the Country Music Association in 1997.

Diffie later became a country radio host himself, hosting a midday program for Tulsa radio station KXBL.

On March 27, 2020, Diffie announced that he had tested positive for coronavirus during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019–20.

In September of that year, he released his debut album, A Thousand Winding Roads, striking gold with the lead single “Home,” which reached the top spot on the country singles chart.

The next couple of years would see more hits like “If You Want Me To,” “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” “New Way (To Light Up an Old Flame),” “Is It Cold in Here,” and “Ships That Don’t Come In.”

Diffie won the Country Music Association’s Vocal Event of the Year trophy for his his 1992 song “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair,” recorded with George Jones, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, and more.

It’s pretty cool.”

Nevertheless, Diffie has trouble seeing himself as an elder statement because he’s just as active as ever.

His album "Homecoming: The Bluegrass Album" was released in late 2010 on the Rounder label.

Diffie charted 35 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart between 1990 and 2004, five of which reached the number-one spot: his debut release "Home," "If the Devil Danced (in Empty Pockets)," "Third Rock from the Sun," "Pickup Man" (his longest-running number-one single, at four weeks), and "Bigger Than the Beatles." In addition to those singles, he had 12 others that reached the top 10, and another 10 that reached the top 40 on the same chart.

Writing and Collaborations

Diffie co-wrote singles for Holly Dunn, Tim McGraw, and Joe Diffie Messina, and recorded with Mary Chapin Carpenter, George Jones, and Marty Stuart.

Musical Style

Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote that Diffie "balanced his traditional sentiments with humorous novelties shaded with rock and rueful ballads." His early albums for Epic were largely composed of ballads, but beginning with "Honky Tonk Attitude," he began to include more up-tempo and novelty numbers.

Starting with "A Night to Remember," Diffie returned to a more ballad-oriented sound; Mike Kraski, then-senior vice president of sales at Sony Music Nashville, thought that on the albums prior to it Diffie had overemphasized his novelty songs.

After that, he had an affair with a girl named Liz Allison.

What was Joe Diffie’s Net Worth?

Joe Diffie had earned a massive income from his career. After graduating, he attended Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma. A star athlete in high school, he originally set his sights on a medical career, but his love for music won out and he began performing in a gospel group.

Whether singing about untarnished love in the enduring hit “John Deere Green,” the perennial appeal of “Pickup Man” or the heartbreak of dreams unrealized in “Ships That Don’t Come In,” Diffie’s songs have continually painted a portrait of real life with all its joy and angst.

“I’ve always loved well-written songs,” says the Grammy winner, who is just as skilled at writing hits as he is singing them.

He died in 2020 due to complications from complications of SARS-CoV-2.

Featured image by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for Stagecoach